CASE STUDY DETAILS

Windy City Health – Employee Service Center

Project Type

Enterprise Platform Implementation

Challenge

Manual HR Management

Domain

Healthcare / Human Resources & Employee Experience

Impact

Unified HR Self-Service Portal

  • My Request
  • Record Producers
  • Lifecycle Event
  • Hr Policies KB
  • HR case Created
  • Request Time Off Form
  • wch hr services
  • Employee Center home
OVERVIEW

Windy City Health employs over 50 healthcare workers across 5 hospital locations — from clinical nursing staff and physicians to administrative, IT, and facilities teams. The organization needed a centralized Employee Service Center where all workforce members could submit HR requests, access policy documentation, track request status, and complete onboarding tasks through a single, intuitive self-service portal.

We implemented a comprehensive Employee Service Center on ServiceNow HRSD (Human Resources Service Delivery) — building HR record producers for structured request intake, a curated knowledge base for policy self-service, Employee Center portal configuration with topic-based navigation, and lifecycle event automation for new hire onboarding — creating a unified employee experience that reduces HR administrative burden while improving request handling consistency and visibility.

PROBLEM

Windy City Health faced significant challenges in managing employee HR requests and onboarding activities across its large workforce, resulting in:

The challenge was to establish a centralized HR service management solution that could streamline employee requests, enable self-service, automate onboarding workflows, improve request tracking, and provide HR leadership with better operational visibility.

  • HR requests being handled through fragmented channels including emails, phone calls, paper forms, and HR office walk-ins.
  • Employees having no consistent way to submit or track time-off requests, benefits inquiries, and employment verification requests.
  • HR teams spending significant time handling repetitive inquiries that could be addressed through self-service documentation.
  • New hire onboarding requiring manual coordination between HR, IT, and Facilities, with tasks tracked through spreadsheets and email chains.
  • Limited visibility into HR request volumes, resolution times, recurring request patterns, and process bottlenecks across 50 employees and 5 locations.
SOLUTIONS

1. HR Record Producers for Structured Request Intake

  • Built 4 HR record producers for Time Off, Benefits Inquiry, Employment Verification, and General HR Inquiry requests.
  • Configured forms to capture required information upfront and route requests to the appropriate HR teams.
  • Replaced unstructured email and phone-based requests with standardized, form-driven intake.
  • Created HR Cases with complete lifecycle tracking and improved request visibility.

3. Employee Center Portal Configuration

  • Configured the Employee Center portal as the centralized entry point for employee services.
  • Branded the portal as “Windy City Health Employee Center.”
  • Integrated the HR Policies knowledge base for searchable self-service content.
  • Enabled employees to browse HR topics, submit requests, and track case status from one portal.

5. Lifecycle Events for Onboarding Automation

  • Implemented a “Standard Onboarding” lifecycle event with structured activity sets.
  • Configured Pre-Hire activities for offer signing, equipment requests, and workspace assignment.
  • Added Day 1 and Week 1 activities for orientation, setup, integration, and access verification.
  • Automated task generation and assignment across HR, IT, Facilities, and new hires.

2. HR Policies Knowledge Base

  • Created a dedicated HR Policies knowledge base with categorized content for employee self-service.
  • Added articles covering the 2026 Holiday Schedule, Dress Code Policy, Remote Work Guidelines, and Safety Incident Reporting.
  • Organized content across Benefits, Workplace Safety, Payroll & Leave, and Conduct categories.
  • Reduced repetitive HR inquiries by enabling employees to find policy information independently.

4. Topic-Based Navigation & Mega Menu

  • Created the “WCH HR Services” taxonomy topic within the Employee Center mega menu.
  • Connected all 4 HR record producers as easily accessible service items.
  • Added descriptions to help employees identify the appropriate HR service.
  • Simplified navigation by providing direct access to relevant HR request forms.

6. Cloud Monitoring & Operations

  • CloudWatch log groups for backend and Nginx
  • CloudWatch agent on EC2 for centralized logging
  • Systemd service management for backend API
  • Nginx reverse proxy for frontend + API routing
APPROACH

Our Approach

Research & Process Mapping

  • Analyzed HR request patterns across all 5 locations.
  • Identified the 4 highest-volume request types: time off, benefits, employment verification, and general inquiries.
  • Mapped current-state HR workflows and identified onboarding coordination gaps.
  • Assessed collaboration requirements between HR, IT, and Facilities teams.

Information Architecture Design

  • Designed an HR knowledge taxonomy with 4 categories for common employee self-service needs.
  • Structured record producer forms to capture the required information upfront.
  • Kept forms simple and efficient for clinical staff to complete between patient interactions.

Platform Configuration

  • Activated HRSD Core, Employee Center, and Lifecycle Events plugins.
  • Created the HR department record and configured all 4 HR record producers targeting the HR Case table.
  • Created the knowledge base with published articles and configured the Employee Center portal.
  • Built the taxonomy topic and connected content for streamlined mega menu navigation.

Onboarding Automation

  • Configured the Standard Onboarding lifecycle event with 3 activity sets.
  • Automated cross-departmental task assignments for HR, IT, Facilities, and new hires.
  • Configured Pre-Hire activities to trigger before the employee start date.
  • Configured Day 1 and Week 1 activities to support first-day setup and ongoing integration.

Validation & Handover

  • Tested the complete employee journey from HR service discovery through request submission and case tracking.
  • Validated time-off request submission, HR Case number generation, and status tracking through “My Requests.”
  • Documented platform configurations and administrative procedures.
  • Delivered step-by-step administration guides with supporting screenshot references.
SUCCESS AND IMPACT

What Was Achieved

  • Single employee portal — One destination for all HR services, policies, and request tracking
  • Structured request intake — 4 record producers replace unstructured email/phone requests with tracked HR Cases
  • Self-service knowledge — Policy articles deflect common inquiries before they become cases
  • Topic-based navigation — Employees find HR services through intuitive mega menu without platform training
  • Automated onboarding — Cross-departmental tasks generated and assigned automatically for new hires
  • Request visibility — Employees track their own case status; HR sees volume and patterns

By Business

  • HR request intake standardized across 5 locations with consistent form-based capture
  • Self-service knowledge base deflects routine policy questions (holidays, dress code, remote work)
  • Onboarding coordination automated across HR, IT, and Facilities — no more spreadsheet tracking
  • Every HR request tracked as a case with full lifecycle visibility and audit trail
  • Employee satisfaction improved with professional self-service portal and real-time status tracking
  • HR team bandwidth recovered from repetitive inquiries redirected to knowledge articles